A Perfect Lensbaby Day

Here are a few shots with my lensbaby lens. No photoshop or post-editing.

Weather was beautiful today.
Camera settings...
aperture: 2,
shutter speed: 1/1500-1/2000,
ISO: 100

I have a confession to make... I'm addicted to my motorcycle. It's dangerous, I know, that's what everybody tells me, but there is something about it that draws me. About two weeks ago, around midnight, my neighbor backed his van over my bike... my baby. The sound woke me up (I park just outside my door). I threw on some pants and my glasses and ran outside. I was afraid of a hit and run. There was a guy picking my bike up off the ground. He gave me a sheepish grin and handed me his business card. Thankfully, his insurance paid for the repairs... but I was without a bike for about 4 days. Four agonizing days... and that's when I realized how much I had come to rely on my bike. I was forced to walk... to ride the subway... to take buses and taxis. So uncomfortable... so expensive... so slow.

And now, as I'm about to go back to the states, for an all too brief visit, all I can think about is how it might be possible for me to rent or borrow a motorcycle for the duration of my stay. Should I bring my helmet as a carry-on? Do I know anyone who might have a spare bike sitting around?

Now that I've been driving in Korea for about a year, I feel like a seasoned veteran. Compared to Korea, driving in America will be like a college student doing ABCs. Okay, that's a weird comparison... but I've got kindergarten on the brain.

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved speed. I remember a snow trip I went on when I was about 13. Everyone else was going down the slopes in tubes... bouncing over the hills. And there I was... on a bobsled with metal runners... just taking the straight shot down the hill... trying to go as fast as possible. As I recall, my friend's mom thought it looked fun and asked if she could ride passenger... I agreed, but the added weight threw off the handling and we wiped out at the bottom and broke the sled.

Anyway, don't really know why I rambled on like that... no relation whatsoever to the pics.

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An Outing with the Kids

Had a field trip to the local science museum. It wasn't bad. Though I think the best part was the outdoor playground.

I've got some cute kids in my class. Whenever I take a picture of Ethan, he always gives me the scrunched face smile... it's awesome.

You'll also see a few of the Korean teachers hiding from the dreaded sun. White skin is considered beautiful... so they hide from the hated sunlight as much as possible.

Also, the little girl with blue fingernail polish... upon questioning, it was revealed that her grandpa painted her fingernails for her... is that weird or cute?

And yes, I need a haircut.

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The Window, The Plant, The Five

Cabin fever photos. I'm still not feeling 100 percent. So I took the evening to relax. I didn't feel like leaving the apartment... but at the same time, I found myself feeling a bit bored. So here are some pics...

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A Korean Fashion Designer

A friend of mine interviewed a local fashion designer and asked me if I could take a few shots to go along with the article.

I could see that my model was tired from a long day of work. She was worried she wouldn't look good in the picture... hadn't prepared her makeup or hair. So I quickly turned my camera's black and white setting on (everyone looks good in black and white, no matter what). I snapped a quick picture of her and then showed her the results. She liked it and quickly posed for a few more. I took a few pictures of her fashion shop as well.

I've begun to analyze people again... mostly for fun. But it can also be useful, like my fashion photo experience.

The other day I was with a friend and we saw a college age guy who appeared to be blind. However, I pointed out to my friend several indicators that seemed to say otherwise. One: he was wearing a digital watch... now I know there are watches out there that will "speak" the time at the press of a button, but I'm fairly certain this was not one of them. Two: He was sweeping his cane in an awkward pattern and was moving very fast. Three: His clothing was "stylish" (not to say blind people aren't stylish, but usually they are more practical. This guy was wearing shoes and clothing that could easily get snagged on corners. Four: Two giggling girls ran up to him and dragged him off. In my opinion, he needs to work on his blindman act.

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Snap Happy

Whenever I saw an interesting person, or thing, I just started snapping from the hip... looking the opposite direction to throw the victim off. I even got a picture of an artist and one of his apple paintings. I also went for some weird artsy fartsy stuff. This blog entry is like a "Where's Waldo?"

Can you find the twin babys? The perfectly matching couple? The strangely colored hair? The "you can't do anything" sign?

Warning, lots of large pictures, so the page will probably take some time to load.

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Time Flys/Flies?

Wow, the little ones take it out of you. Differences between teaching 7 year olds and six year olds.

Six year olds...
-grab anything within their reach. This means anything you don't want them to play with must be in a high, or locked place.
-call for help wiping after they've gone poop. "Teacher, I did it!"
-move very, very, very slowly. it takes 10-15 minutes just to put their shoes and backpacks on when it is time for them to go home. And it takes 50 minutes to eat lunch.
-constantly take off their shoes and socks
-like to climb on the teacher
-say really funny things
-try to help but end up making things messier

My three boys are angels... the girls... are cute and moody. They cause me the most trouble. If they don't want to do something, they pout and flop on the ground. Sometimes they don't even want to play during gym time. And if one girl doesn't play, the others follow. This takes so much more energy.

I think I still enjoy it. It is a new teaching challenge for sure.
My Korean co-teacher says that last year I was a baby teacher, now my class is turning me into a boy teacher, and I suppose that means one more year and I'll finally be a man. :)

I've also been really sick lately and that hasn't helped. I finally went to a doctor here. I got x-rays, talked with the doc, and picked up my meds for bronchitis all in about 20 minutes and for about $30 bucks. The doc makes his money because he only prescribes 2 days of meds. Then you have to come back in. Get checked again. And get another few days of meds. So they make their cash in the repeat visits.

This weekend looks to be a fun and busy one filled with picture taking. I'll be heading to the cultural district again, just for fun. And then I've been invited to shoot some designer clothes pictures for a friend. We'll see how it goes.

Here are a few pics of my new "team". Some of the pictures actually contain kids from another class. We had a joint outing to the stream. See if you can spot my number one pouter.

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And what would a Friday be without Spaghetti art?

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